Wolf Sage (Rewritten)
by zuozhe
Summary: Rewritten: Still a Sakura/OC story. It's the worst kind of pain, the pain of betrayal. It's the kind of pain that changes people, the kind of pain that created the Akatsuki. His family betrayed him, so he found a new one, forged from pain, by Pain. He knows pain, it no longer frightens him. So what has him so afraid of one small pink-haired girl? If not pain, maybe something new?


A/N: Alright it's driving me crazy. There's surely people who will be displeased with the abrupt step back, but I can't get it out of my head. I was far to hasty with this story and there is so much more that I could do with it that I missed the first time around. I apologize for taking this whole thing back to square one, or rather chapter one, since I know there's people who have been waiting ages for an update. That said I do hope that if you bear with me I can drastically improve on the original by rewriting it now. I do feel that my style and ability as an author have improved drastically since my first post, and consequently I'm no longer satisfied with some of my previous work. "Wolf Sage" is a prime example. The concept is certainly worthy, but the original execution absolutely does not satisfy me any longer. Again I apologize, but I thought it over and there's simply no way that I could ever bring myself to continue the story when I know there's so much untapped potential already. Also I don't like how much it strayed from the original. I wasn't reading the manga at that time and the anime was in the middle of a filler arc (on a side note Naruto has simply dreadful fillers) so I didn't know where to go next, but I was also too impatient to wait. Now I'm got up on the manga, so that will help with the progression of my story tremendously. Again, I'm sorry to do this to the people who were waiting on an update, but hopefully I can revitalize and moreover improve this story with a rewrite.

* * *

"Damn it." He breathed heavy, though not from physical exertion, "These are the Hyuga's elite assassins. I can only run for so long." His mind raced much the same as his adrenaline. _Why are they doing this? No, that not the right question. They're elites, but they're also drones. _He moved as quickly as he could through the trees. Trying to get as far away as possible._ They're doing it because Hiashi-sama ordered them to. So why would he give such an order. Is he really that afraid?_

He thought back, wondering where things had gone wrong. It was almost like seeing his entire life flash before his eyes.

* * *

He always liked the moon. The shining white orb reminded him of his own eyes, stained white by the Byakugan. The Hyuga were blessed with the gift of "The All Seeing White Eye". It was unfortunate that they were cursed by their own taboos. He found his gift earlier than most. Usually a child of the Hyuga didn't awaken their Byakugan till well into their teens, or sometimes not at all. He first used his at only six. It made him very popular with the rest of his clan as well. The other children would often ask to see what his eyes looked like when he used it, and mused to themselves about when they might unlock the gift as well.

That made him happy. He was so very happy to feel accepted by his clan. His parents died when he was very young, he didn't even remember them. His grandparents raised him for awhile, but they were always so distant. He never felt the bonds of a family, but when he felt the acceptance of his clan, he felt like he had a family. He felt like the Hyuga clan as a whole was his family. He didn't need blood to mark his family, the bond he felt with his clan was all he needed to have a family, and it made his so very happy to feel the bonds of a family.

It wasn't just the Byakugan either. In everything he did he was always a step ahead of his peers. A true prodigy, the pride of the Hyuga. At seven years he graduated the academy, and he started to hear people comparing him to a similar prodigy, Uchiha Itachi, the pride of the Uchiha. He became rather enthralled by what people told him of the Uchiha boy who had graduated the academy at age seven, mastered the Sharingan at age eight, passed the chunin exams at age ten, and became an ANBU leader at age thirteen. The more people compared him to Itachi the more he idolized him, and started to compare himself to the pride of the Uchiha as well. He was told that Uchiha Itachi mastered the Sharingan by age eight, so he tasked himself with mastering the Byakugan just the same.

He trained his eyes and his body relentlessly, even stealing secrets from the Main House that the Branch House wasn't allowed to know. No matter what he did he was held back though. The curse mark wouldn't allow him to truly master the gift of the Hyuga. It was almost maddening to know that by birth he was forbidden to know his full potential. He sifted through every text in the library of the Main House over a matter of months, additionally mastering the arts of stealth, infiltration and espionage to do so without detection. He eventually found what he was looking for. A scroll detailing the creation of the curse mark. Once he understood how to create it he was able to destroy it. He did have to make sure no one saw that the mark was missing, both by using his head band to visually conceal it and also by ensuring that he gave Hiashi no reason to attempt using it. After he was freed from his binds he was able to truly master the Byakugan. By age ten he had truly mastered the gifts of the Hyuga.

He passed the chunin exam just before his eleventh birthday, enrolled in ANBU shortly after, and became a leader at thirteen, right on par with Itachi. He took great pride in the accomplishment, seeing it as not only a competition between himself and Itachi, but also between the Hyuga and the Uchiha.

* * *

In truth, it could all be attributed to a simple misunderstanding. Although he'd never even met the man people started to associate him with Itachi. Growing up every child is sure to have a certain 'hero' that they look up to, it's only a natural part of maturing. When he was young his elders always told him of one man in particular, so it was natural for this man to become his 'hero' to look up to. By the time that man became known for the murder of his entire clan he had largely outgrown his idolization of his 'hero' yet the seeds were already sown.

It was an unfortunate misunderstanding which simply grew out of control. People associated him with Itachi, and they associated Itachi with annihilation of the Uchiha, so they quickly started to associate him with the annihilation of the Hyuga. They couldn't have been more wrong, not that it mattered. It was all so sudden too. It was almost overnight, just like the fall of the Uchiha. One day he was the pride of the Hyuga, then the next he was the monster of the Hyuga.

_Monster, _He cringed.

That word was the one that hurt the most. Children who formerly ran up to him and pleaded for him to teach them suddenly ran from him crying for their parents to protect them from the monster.

_Monster!_ Tears forced their way out of his eyes.

That one damned word caused him more pain than his body ever could. Hiashi even attempted to use the curse mark, obviously to no avail, to force complacency from the monster.

_MONSTER!_ He stopped his running and let the assassins catch up to him. He'd always been the first to aid his comrades, and even had the presence of mind to lure his assailants away from the village to protect the people who'd betrayed him, but still he was only a, "Monster," he stood with his back to the assassins, four in total, who approached him slowly and watched him intently, "you think I'm a monster?" he turned on them abruptly, "I'll show you a monster!"

His speed was enough that even the elites had difficulty keeping up, and he grazed one of them as they dodged. The one he'd just barely touched didn't even realize it at first, but after grouping together with his comrades a sharp pain shot through him and he spit up blood.

"The slightest touch is all I need. This is the pinnacle of the Gentle Fist, the true power of the Byakugan, the power of the pride of the Hyuga, of me, Hyuga Jai!" He made another lunge at them, this time with only three dodging. The one he'd already hit didn't manage to move, and was dead before he hit the ground.

The Gentle Fist was a great point of pride for the Hyuga, and was usually used exclusively by their shinobi, but to think they didn't bother with mastering the same ninjutsu as any other shinobi was foolish. Jai had truly perfected the Gentle Fist, and the assassins knew full well that they would be outmatched in such a fight. So they opted to fight more traditionally instead. Two of them used firestyle jutsu while the third strengthened it with wind style. He deflected it with the eight-trigrams-heavenly-spin, and there was a flash of light, white like his eyes.

* * *

Sitting propped up against a tree, bloody and broken, with the four corpses lying about him, he breathed deeply. Each breath was painful and he winced a bit as he inhaled. His vision was blurred, though it was mostly just obscure darkness anyway. He grinned at a humorous thought, "Itachi," he spoke aloud, his headband fell off and landed atop his hand, and a bit of blood fell from his mouth and left a red streak right across the symbol of the Leaf Village, "I guess now I'm a rogue too."

He saw one last thing before his vision failed him completely. He saw a woman with blue hair, wearing a long black robe with blood-red clouds. She stood over him, and his vision became engulfed by darkness.


End file.
